Done Pretending
by ianna28
Summary: "Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity," Loki mocked as Tony walked to his bar, and pulled out two glasses. "I was hoping you'd appeal to mine," Tony retaliated, throwing Loki for a loop. "Because I'm quickly losing reasons as to why I should actually stop you." What if that fight between Rogers and Tony went too far? AU Not FrostIron
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I got a little dark here, but it's something that could have happened. At least in my mind. :)  
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**As per usual, I own nothing but my imagination, that so far isn't making me much money.**

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"Big man in a suit of armour. Take that off, what are you?" Tony did not like Steve Rogers, not one bit.

"Genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist," Tony rattled off, secretly proud that he trip up on the last word.

"I know guys with none of that worth ten of you," Steve snarled back at the man. "I've seen the footage. The only thing you fight for is yourself. You're not the guy to make the sacrifice play, to lay down on a wire and let the other guy crawl over you."

Tony was starting to see red. This was the guy that was a hero to him when he was a kid? This was who his father spent most of his life searching for? "I think I would just cut the wire."

"Always a way out," Steve shook his head, not believing that this was what he had woken up too. "You know, you may not be a threat, but you better stop pretending to be a hero."

Not a threat? Pretending? Oh, this little tart was asking for it. "A hero? Like you?" He stopped himself from laughing. "You're a lab rat, Rogers. Everything that you are came out of a bottle!"

"Put on the suit. Let's have it out." Tony wanted nothing more. He wanted to put on the suit and beat the whelp down, take out all his childhood transgressions on the man. But the small issue of the helicarrier being attacked stopped him. He would have to pretend to be a hero one more time.

Even while JARVIS was making the calculations to get the engine running again he couldn't get Rogers words out of his mind. Of course he fought for himself, if he didn't then his enemies would have killed him long ago. He was usually the main target and he wasn't about to sacrifice himself just because a few people with some loose screws wanted him dead. Where would the world be then?

That's what had gotten Coulson killed. Tony stared at the spot of blood on the wall. He was an eternal optimist, unselfish, and look where that had gotten him. "He was an idiot," Tony muttered.

"He was doing his job!" Of course that would be Steve's response.

"For taking Loki alone, he was out of his league," Tony argued.

"Is this your first time losing a soldier?" There was that red tint again.

"We are NOT soldiers!" Tony rounded on Rogers. "I am not marching to Fury's fife!"

Steve took a step back. "Neither am I! He's got the same blood on his hands as Loki. Right now we've got to put that aside and get this done."

And suddenly Loki didn't look so crazy in Tony's mind. Barring his incoming invasion, how much worse could Loki be than what they were doing right now? Banner had been right when he said they were bomb just waiting to go off. And boy, did they make some fireworks. He narrowed his eyes in thought.

"He wants to beat us and he wants to be seen doing it. He wants an audience." He was talking mostly to himself now.

"Right, I caught his act at Stuttgart."

"Yeah," Tony waved his hand a little, paying little attention to the man. "That's just a preview, this will be opening night. Loki's a full-tilt diva. He wants flowers, he wants parades, he wants a monument built in the skies with his name plastered..." Then it hit him. He was exactly like Loki, he knew exactly where he went. "Sonofabitch." He took off running, leaving a confused Rogers in his wake.

When Tony Stark landed on his balcony and the suit came off, he had no idea what he was going to do, but he knew that he was doing it for himself, not the world.

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity," Loki mocked as Tony walked to his bar, and pulled out two glasses.

"I was hoping you'd appeal to mine," Tony retaliated, throwing Loki for a loop. "Because I'm quickly losing reason as to why I should actually stop you." Loki raised an eyebrow at him. "Drink?"

"Stalling won't help," Loki told him, walking closer.

"Stalling is the last thing I want to do right now," he knew the super team was on it's way. What was left of them anyway. "You've got about three minutes before that portal opens, and four before the goody goodies get here." He pushed a glass towards Loki as he picked his own up. "I'm actually looking to make an offer."

"Are you going to nobly sacrifice yourself in exchange for my surrender?" Loki didn't take the glass.

Tony snorted and shook his head. "No, that'll never happen. I'm offering you everything that you want, without the invasion." Tony gestured outside. "I have no doubts that we could stop that army of yours, Let's say that we don't though, do you really think that whoever helped you get here is going to let you Keep this planet as your own?" Tony laughed a little. "No, you're as dead as we are." Loki narrowed his eyes a little.

"You expect me to believe that the great Iron Man-"

"I like Invincible," Tony cut in.

"-would help me in taking over Midgard?" Loki had raised both his eyebrows this time. "If this is the best ruse that you're little team can come up with-"

"They aren't my team," Tony growled out. That intrigued the god. "They never were. A team brought together by lies, and blood, and secrets is Not a team. Not like that."

"What assurances do I have?" Tony tossed two bracelets down on the ground by Loki's feet.

"Those would have called a brand new suit to me. I could have activated it at any time to kick your ass out of my tower," Tony pointed and a panel started to slide away from the wall revealing the suit. "I'm willing to go up to the roof now with you, no armour, and have you turn off that machine up there." He glanced at his watch. "Two minutes until the wonder squad gets here."

Tony made a noise when Loki's hand suddenly grabbed the short hair above his neck tightly, pulling his head back. He didn't move as Loki studied him with narrowed eyes. Tony felt a tingle and suddenly there was wind whipping around his face. He blinked a little and looked around to see that they were on the roof. "That was fast."

Loki pulled Tony over to the device and gripped his scepter. "I will need a place to go after I do this."

"Malibu," Tony answered immediately. "I've got a place there. It would take them hours to get there if they figured out that's where we went."

"You have just made a very foolish deal with the devil, Stark," Loki grinned at him.

"No, I did that a long time ago," Tony muttered as Loki pushed his scepter in the device to power it down. Tony felt the tingle of teleportation again as Loki grabbed the tesseract this time.

Just more fight that he did for himself. No more pretending to be the hero he wasn't, he had proved that to everyone now.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I fear that I've gone a little OOC with Tony, but then I figure he's letting those rarely used emotions get to his head. Snarky, jokey, albeit a little evil, Tony will be back soon.  
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**It makes excited to see everyone so interested to see how this will go. I think it's going down a dark path, but hey, thanks to sticking around for the ride! Y'all are so awesome!**

**As per usual, I own nothing but my imagination, that so far isn't making me much money.**

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Tony stumbled a little when his feet found a different flooring under his feet. Loki had let go of him and he grabbed onto the couch that was right in front of him.

"Sir, I am-" JARVIS started talking as soon as his sensors had picked them up.

"No," Tony waved his hand as Loki looked up, then around the room. "Don't contact anyone, don't send any alarms, nothing." He sighed a little and stood up straighter. "In fact, don't even let anyone know that I'm here, take no calls until further notice."

"Of course, sir," if possible JARVIS sounded confused.

"Who was that?" Tony lifted his head a little when he felt the end of Loki's stuff at his neck.

"Chill, that's just my AI, he runs the house, and the suits, and pretty much my life," Tony explained looking at the angered god. "I got a few things you can store that cube in if you want," he glanced at the tesseract still in Loki's hands.

Loki waved his hand and the cube disappeared from his hand, but the staff did not. "Do not think that I trust you, mortal," Loki warned him. "You have veritably signed your life to mine, and I may now do as I please with it."

"Maybe you don't make such threats until you hear what I've got to say," Tony snorted and headed through the house, desperate for another drink.

"I believe that I am more intrigued about you," Loki said as he followed his puppet. "What would force the great hero Iron Man to help his enemy?" Tony stopped at a counter and bent down to get a couple bottles. When he stood back up Loki was standing on the other side, staring at him. "What could have been said to anger you so much?"

Tony's jaw clenched a little and he grabbed two glasses, filling them both up with scotch. "I was just reminded of a few things."

"By your dear Captain?" Loki smirked when Tony's eyes suddenly locked with his.

"He is not my Captain," Tony snarled. "That man is half of the reason that my father never looked twice at me. He spent the years he was alive searching for a man in ice, when I, his only son, was there doing everything he could ever want."

"I seemed to have touched a nerve." Loki was pleased to say the least. This anger, this was something he could work with.

Tony swallowed the drink in one gulp, hardly noticing the burn down his throat anymore. "They called me the Merchant of Death, not that many years ago. Not bad for someone that never had any kind of blood on his hands. All I had to do was make better weapons for the people that paid me." He filled the glass again, noting that Loki hadn't touched the other glass. "Then I got this," he tapped his chest.

Loki swept the bottle of alcohol down the bar. He wanted his pawn to be mostly sober for the time being. "Because the bastard that had acted like a father to me, better than my real one, got selfish, My life now relies on a damned magnet." He downed the glass once again then reached out and took the other glass sitting there. "For three months they kept me in a cave, telling me to make weapons for them. I made a weapon alright," Tony let out a humourless laugh. "I turned that cave into a graveyard."

Loki raised an eyebrow, intrigued. "And yet you walked out to become a hero?"

"Oh no," Tony shook his head. "I walked out selfish, only thinking about my life." Damn you, Yinsen. "I built a better suit, and I went out and I got my revenge. I found the my torturers, and I killed them. I told myself I was doing it for the good of the world, for innocents. Sometimes I can be a better liar than you." Tony pointed towards Loki and sat in a chair.

"And I believed it, that I was good. I went around destroying all the weapons that I had made, moving to stop wars all over," he shook his head a little. "It wasn't until I was dying by my own hands that I realized it was for selfish reasons, and I wasn't the only one that had noticed. Fury and his little band of men noticed." Tony set the untouched drink back on the bar. "Iron Man, yes. Tony Stark, no." He muttered to himself.

Tony looked up at Loki. "I'm tired of playing how everyone else expects me too. You were right, you know?" Loki raised an eyebrow in a silent question. "What you were saying Germany. We were made to be ruled? Yeah, you hit the nail on the head there, buddy. I got paid Millions to supply the tools that would let other men claim that power."

"And yet you willingly allow me to rule you," Loki leaned in, studying Tony. "Why is that?"

"Isn't it just easier that way?" Tony shrugged a little. "I'm done pretending to be someone else. You were just going about things the wrong way. I know an easier way. I've been doing it for years already."

"You, in power of this pathetic world?" Loki didn't suppress his scoff. "And how is that, pray tell?"

Tony smirked and leaned forward to meet Loki's stance. "Through money, and business."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Wow! You guys really like this story! I'm happy, it's something different than the others I'm writing, and it's weird writing something where there's a real possibility it won't have a happy ending. I love it! Thanks a ton guys, your reviews keep me going! Also, these are very much un-beta'd, so all mistakes are my own.**

**As per usual, I own nothing but my imagination, that so far isn't making me much money.**

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"Sir, SHIELD is trying to hack into my security systems," JARVIS announced and Tony looked up from his tablet. "It can be assumed that they've figured out where you are, and are on their way."

"Yeah, figured," Tony muttered and brought up another screen on the tablet. "Has everything from the lab been moved?" He started a data transfer of his personal files.

"My sensors read that Mr Loki has just returned from transporting the last of it, sir." Was it possible for his AI to sound condescending?

"Good." He moved a few things from the trash. "Triple the security on the companies database, make sure everything of importance gets moved to the new servers and the ones inside the mansion are destroyed." He saw Loki walk into the room. "I mean small explosions, no remains."

"Of course sir." Tony looked up at Loki and raised an eyebrow.

"This does not sound like we are headed in the right direction, Stark," Loki watched him carefully. "It almost sounds like you are running, and taking me along."

"No, tactical retreat," Stark reasoned. "Anyway, I can't have all my stuff here when SHIELD or the Avengers can get to it. Any little bit left could lead to other things, and eventually leads to them finding us." He glanced at his liquor and let out a wistful sigh. "There are several places that they don't know about, no one knows about, not even Pepper. And I have many aliases."

"You would set this up behind the backs of your friends?" Loki raised an eyebrow. If Tony did this on his own when he wasn't helping Loki, he could only imagine how useful the mortal could actually be when he was.

"One never knows when they'll have to disappear, for one reason or another." Tony shrugged a little. He looked outside and saw a black dot getting closer to the mansion. "I wonder who will be on the jet. Probably Spangles," Tony bit out. "JARVIS, prepare to shut down the mansion, erase any data, I don't want them booting you up and taking you apart here."

"Of course sir, I shall see you in Dubai." Tony could hear the whir of his machines shutting down a few minutes later.

"They should be thanking me," Tony said as he reached for a glass and a bottle of scotch as the jet came closer. "If it wasn't for me they'd be fighting off an army right now." He pointed at Loki with a glass in his hand. "If if I wasn't there to help them, who knows what would have happened. The could have nuked the damn island and Manhattan for all I know!"

"You seem a little bitter," Loki smirked.

"Bitter?" Tony snorted. "Why would I be bitter about a government that has harassed me for my suit, the only thing that kept them safe from the threat of big wards? Bitter about being targeted again and again by my enemies, that I had before Iron Man by the way, and then getting blamed for the destruction they cause? Bitter? I don't know the meaning of the word." He downed the rest of the scotch.

They heard the jet hovering above the mansion. "I suppose I shall make myself scarce," Loki said. "Don't want to play our hand too soon." He disappeared and Tony took a seat at the bar, pouring another glass of scotch.

"Stark!" Tony snorted when he heard Steve voice ring through the mansion. He wasn't alone though, he could hear several pairs of feet. "What the hell happened out there?" They walked into the room as Tony took a sip of the glass.

"I think, that actually nothing happened." He turned to see the five Avengers staring at him. "And wasn't that the point? To make sure that nothing did happen? No war came, no one else was killed, and hey, the Earth is still in one piece and free for now."

"How did you get here so fast?" Natasha asked, eyeing him for a lie.

"We saw you with Loki," Barton somehow managed to accuse him with that line.

"You're right, we did meet up in my penthouse. As I'm sure you saw, he had set up home on My Tower." Tony stood up and walked around the bar to drop a few more ice cubes in his glass.

"I can sense my brother's magic on you," Thor looked at him, almost looking hopefully. He was really only good for hired muscle.

"Well, he did threaten me, and then thought it would be fun to take me where you guys couldn't find me." It was still the partial truth. "Disabled my communications." He didn't claim who had disabled them, still the truth. "Sitting here in the dark." The mansion was powered down. "So, I've actually got a lot of work to do, so why don't you all skedaddle on back to your little organization, and I'll be seeing you later."

"You're coming with us, Stark," Rogers said. And if the way he said it didn't just press Tony's buttons up and down like a kid in an elevator.

"No, I don't think I am." Tony turned to look at them. "I was hired on as a consultant to this little Avengers boy band, I was denied access to it, so I'm not part of the club." He left his glass on the bar and took a few steps towards them. "It's been made painfully obvious that you all feel you can do without me, so go right ahead. I'm better as Tony Stark then I am as G.I. Iron Joe, so I'll be off to continue running my company and living my life."

He pushed past them but Rogers grabbed his arm to stop him. "What the hell has gotten into you? Howard would have-"

Tony rounded on Steve and punched him. Rogers stumbled back and Tony shook his head out a little. "Don't talk like you know anything about me. I am Not my father, and I'm thankful everyday for that." Tony glared at Steve before turning back around and walking down the steps towards his lab.

There was silence before Bruce was the first to move. "Tony! Wait!" He jogged down the stairs and stopped when the workshop came into view. Tony was gone, and so was everything else. "Shit."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I know, how long has it been? Ugh! I just wanted to get this right and not make it feel rushed or anything. So here's a short update. DON"T HATE ME!**

**As per usual, I own nothing but my imagination, that so far isn't making me much money.**

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Tony shook out his hand and looked at it as it started to turn red. Loki looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "What?" Loki merely smirked and shook his head.

"What will they think when you are no where near the building?" Loki followed the man, letting go of the scepter as it disappeared from his hand.

"Maybe they'll think that you were waiting for me, or that I have many hidden passages in my buildings, which I do," Tony suggested. "No doubt they'll call Pepper soon, and that's something I'll have to deal with."

"Pepper?" Loki scrunched his brows together.

"Pepper Potts, soon to be ex-girlfriend, as they usually are, and my current assistant." Tony explained shortly. He looked around the room and saw that all of his workroom has been transported in what looked like one piece. Everything was still sitting on tables, and even DUM-E was there, thankfully powered off.

"Is she going to be a problem?" Tony heard the underlying question. 'Do we need to get rid of her?'

"No," Tony shook his head. "For now I need to work some things out, can't have them all thinking that I've jumped ship just yet." He walked over to where most of his stuff had been placed and grabbed a tablet, accessing his personal files. Lights started to power on one at a time and Loki casually glanced back.

"Welcome back, sir," JARVIS spoke up after a moment and Tony seemed to relax a little knowing that the AI was there.

"Good to hear your voice, darling," Tony murmured as he looked at the tablet. He glanced over his shoulder at Loki. "You should relax a little, change into something not as attention getting. You're going to need to get used to it if we're going to put this all into motion."

Loki raised an eyebrow and let the his scepter change into the cane he had used in Germany. His leathers melted away revealing a pair of black slacks, a black waistcoat over a white button down shirt with a thin green tie. "Is this more appropriate?"

"Makes me feel better," Tony commented then looked back at the screen. "Alright JARVIS, we've got a lot to do, lots to dust off. Let's work on getting some papers here for our friend, first."

"Of course sir. Are you going to use one of your alias's for him, or create a new one?"

Tony tapped his chin then looked over at Loki. "New one, let's start fresh. Liam," Loki raised an eyebrow. "Mr Liam Kasimir. With a K, JARVIS, from Westminster, yeah, that sounds good." Tony looked back back at the tablet, words and spreadsheets flying past his eyes.

"And what pray-tell does that name mean?" Loki asked, setting himself down on a stool across from Tony.

"I'm pretty sure Kasimir was a king, or some some variation on the name means king," Tony rambled off as he started to type. "You'll need to come up with some kind of disguise though, if we're going to do this right. You'll have to be the new name in weapons, take out Hammer. It'll get you just enough attention to show that you mean business. Meanwhile, I'll have to get one of my own aliases, change my looks a little." He paused and stroked the hair along his jaw. He was a little attached to his facial hair.

"I could perhaps help with that, since you'll need to make an appearance as both Anthony Stark, and whomever else you decide," Loki offered, looking off to the side in thought. "what of this weapons business, though? Surely it is not easy to just create something like that, with no reputation to speak of-" He stopped when Tony projected a screen.

"Aeons Enterprises," Tony said as a logo flashed by. "Been making weapons and ammunitions for seven years. Very quiet business, doesn't like to garner a lot of attention. Until now." Loki raised an eyebrow at the billionaire. "I have more up my sleeve than anyone could ever imagine. I'm almost as good as the God of Mischief." Loki's mouth curled up in a smirk as the cunning manner displayed to him. Yes, this just might work out better than he had planned.


End file.
